Enhancing First-year English Majors' Autonomy Through Cooperative Learning

The first-year English majors are observed to be dependent and passive. This attitude is of no benefit for learning a foreign language. Recently, with the growth of interest in learner autonomy in ELT, the importance of training learners to be effective and independent is widely recognized. Learner autonomy has been defined as the ability to take responsibility for one抯 own learning. In the special case of foreign language learning, learner autonomy entails the gradual development of a capacity for the independent and flexible use of the target language. On the basis of social interactionism it is believed that cooperative learning is an appropriate way to enhance learner autonomy in the EFL classroom. This teaching method creates the situations where learners are engaged in the activities that require them to use the target language for genuine communicative purposes, and thus allow them to be independent learners. Cooperative learning also emphasizes active and responsible learning through interpersonal interaction, which shifts language learners from the dependency associated with a transmission model of teaching to the autonomy implied by a self-directed, autonomous mode of learning. But not all group works are cooperative learning. There are five essential elements which are necessaxy for the effective cooperative learning. Ongoing development of a cooperative learning environment depends on the success fiil translation of the key elements and understanding into classroom teaching and learning practice. Some interactive activities of cooperative learning are introduced in this thesis.